Would this side have beaten Middlesbrough?
Would this young side have won the Premiership game that the Arsenal first team lost because they were knackered?
We shall never know. That’s hypothetical and we should not concern ourselves with the hypothetical. I’m sure Fabio Capello doesn’t waste any time on the hypothetical.
Arsenal beat Blackburn 3-2 in the Carling Cup in extra time.
The winning goal came when centreback Song brought the ball forward cleverly and slipped a beautiful left-footed pass through for Eduardo, who was just onside, and he stroked the ball past Brad Friedel’s right hand for the second time in the match.It was a Jimmy Greaves goal, a Robbie Fowler goal, the work of a supercool specialist goalpoacher
Arsenal had outclassed Blackburn after stunning them with a fine goal in 5 minutes when Bendtner picked out Diaby with a supoerb cross from the right and the big man volleyed past the startled American keeper. Steven Reid, playing at right back, had given Diably far too much space. Reid is a really a midfielder.
Then Bendtner hit the bar and Fabianski made a good low save from David Dunn.
Then Denilson sent a probing pass beyond the defence, Samba missed it, and Eduardo slotted neatly for 2-0 in 28 minutes.
Matt Derbyshire, preferred to the off-form Benni McCarthy, was offside when he crossed for Roque Santa Cruz to stab home for 2-1 at half-time.
The first half had looked like a walkover until that goal. The second half was far more competitive and when David Bentley got a marvellous free-kick at exactly the right height, Roque Santa Cruz headed in for 2-2 in 60.
Then Denilson tried to tackle out of range on the halfway line and Mike Riley sent him off for his two-footed lunge at Dunn. A straight red which followed an earlier yellow the Brazilian had picked up
Then Eduardo scored again and Arsenal closed the game out, despite a header from Samba hitting the post.
So Arsene Wenger can now boast two teams with terrific fighting spirit. He didn’t have one last season because Thierry set the wrong tone. I knew Arsenal would never win anything with him as captain. William Gallas is a warrior and when a warrior replaced a ballerina as captain, everything changed. Things became possible that were impossible a year ago. Maybe Gallas will prove to be a better captain than Vieira.
Surprised that Spurs beat Man City 2-0 after playing for 70 minutes with 10 men. I had a bet on City.
Everton beat West Ham so we know three of the semi-finalists for tonight’s semi-final draw at 10pm.
The fourth will be the winner of Chelsea and Liverpool.
It will be interesting to see what sides are fielded by Avram Grant and Rafa Benitez, who famously said, “I didn’t come here to win the Carling Cup.”
Yesterday The Guardian was sold out by the time I got to the shop so I got The Times, which had six articles about Capello not speaking English by six different writers.
Kevin Keegan spoke English and was useless. Graham Taylor spoke English at mind-numbing length and he was clueless too. McClaren spoke English but he was the worst manager England ever had.
I want to see what Fabio Capello does. I don’t mind what he says or how it’s translated. In 2008 I look forward to writing about what Capello does with his new team.
I reckon his team will say : we are very solid, we don’t concede goals, we pass the ball around when we’re 1-0 up, we will qualify for 2010.
BLACKBURN (4-4-2): Friedel; Reid, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock (Khizanishvili, 120); Bentley, Savage, Dunn (Mokoena, 105), Pedersen; Derbyshire (McCarthy , 90), Santa Cruz. Subs not used: Brown (gk), Roberts.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Fabianski; Justin Hoyte, Song, Senderos, Traoré; Randall (Barazite, 80; Merida, 100), Denilson, Diarra, Diaby; Eduardo (Gibbs, 115), Bendtner. Subs not used: Mannone (gk), Gavin Hoyte .
Referee: Mike Riley (West Yorkshire).